Tag Archives: Caritas Bangladesh

May 13, 2013 · 7:18 PM

Tropical storm threatening coastal areas in Bay of Bengal

Caritas helps comminuties in Bangldesh, India and Myanmar prepare for future disasters. Credit: Jennie Carmichael/CRS

Caritas helps communities in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar prepare for future disasters.
Credit: Jennie Carmichael/CRS

The tropical cyclone ‘Mahasen’ is heading towards coastal part of the Bay of Bengal and at any time it may cross any parts of Bangladesh or India or Myanmar on 15 – 17, May 2013.  

This cyclone is likely to intensify and move in a north to north-westerly direction. The maximum sustained wind speed is expected to rise up to 88 km per hour. The sea is expected to remain very rough within the region.

Caritas has been implementing disaster preparedness in seven districts that are now under the threat. In these areas Caritas has 45 field offices, 347 field staff (45% are women) and 5,344 Volunteers (40% are women) who are trained on cyclone preparedness works.

Caritas Bangladesh has organised an emergency meeting of the National Core Team for Disaster Management and formed four teams with specific emergency responsibilities.

At a regional level, Caritas has arranged an emergency fund, made sure rescue materials are ready for use, made staff ready, and coordinated with the government.

At the field level, Caritas organised communities into committees so everyone knows who will do what and kept them informed with regular weather updates, advised them on how to protect their household materials and helped them identify nearby safe places for shelter.

 

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April 30, 2013 · 4:29 PM

Mayday

A mother who is still looking for her missing daughter after the Savar tragedy. Credit: creative commons

A mother who is still looking for her missing daughter after the Savar tragedy. Credit: creative commons

By Michelle Hough, Caritas Internationalis communications officer

Many workers around the world are having a welcomed day off tomorrow to mark “International Workers Day”. But in Bangladesh rescuers will continue to sift through the rubble of the clothing factory which collapsed in Savar last week.

Collapsed buildings for Caritas usually means earthquakes, such as the ones in Haiti and Japan. They are disasters which are terrible and unforeseen. The disaster in  Savar was foretold by a big crack in the building. Despite an initial evacuation, people were forced to go back to work. Almost 400 people were crushed in the building collapse, many were injured and others are still missing.

Caritas Bangladesh has been giving out thousands of bottles of water and packets of saline to keep people hydrated, as well as nutritional biscuits. They are continuing in relief work in the area.

A message from colleagues at Caritas Bangladesh reads, “In solidarity with the local Church and with our colleagues of Caritas Bangladesh, we mourn for the dead and share the sorrow of their relatives for a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened. We pray for the lives of the injured and remain close to our friends in Bangladesh who continue to assist them and their families as best as they can.”

As the rubble is slowly cleared, families face coming to terms with their losses. Many of the people killed were women. Many of them had children who will grow up without a mother.

Those of us in richer countries also have to face something: the fact that those killed were producing cheap clothes for our shops.

This isn’t the first time that poorly paid workers have died in making our clothes. In November last year over 100 workers were burned alive in a factory in Bangladesh with no fire exits. In 2010, 27 people died and more than 100 were injured in a fire in a factory that made clothes for another Western retailer.

As we enjoy our May Day holiday tomorrow, we can be thankful for the workers’ rights of limited working hours, good pay and safe workplaces which we’ve gained over the years.

But at the same time, don’t forget to give a thought and a prayer for those lost in the Bangladesh disaster, for those who are injured and for those left behind.

In a private mass on 1st May Pope Francis expressed his shock at the low wages of those who worked in the Bangladeshi factory. At his weekly audience later that day he used the feast of St Joseph the Worker to condemn slave labour.

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December 1, 2011 · 4:28 PM

Advocacy in action at Durban climate talks

Dr Anwara Shelly from Caritas Bangladesh scored a negotiating success at the Durban talks

By Patrick Nicholson

An insurance policy covering loss and damage to your property if there is hurricane or flood isn’t an option if you are poor. But one of the smaller issues discussed at Durban is how to provide communities with just such coverage through a ‘loss and damages’ fund.

Dr Anwara Shelly from Caritas Bangladesh is taking part in the UN conference in Durban wearing two hats, both as Caritas and on the official Government of Bangladesh delegation.

On the details of negotiations in the conference centre, Caritas experience in the field can have a real impact. At a session on the loss and damage fund, Dr Shelly raised her hand to urge that fund not be targeted at the national level, but at the local or district level where it can be most effective.

“My 24 years of experience with Caritas Bangladesh has shown me that in a disaster, we must be able to mobilize funds at the local level,” she said, pointing to the cyclones that have ravaged her country. She says that people surviving the initial hazard often suffer because it takes weeks to reach them.

Her intervention was welcomed, and she received the backing of Bolivia, Cook Islands, East Timor and Tuvalu. That means her suggestion will be included in the text for further discussion and approval by the delegates.

Dr Shelly was present at UN talks on climate change in Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun in 2010, but this is her first time as an official country delegate.

“I can speak on behalf of my country and on behalf of the poor people,” she said. “I can bring their concerns to negotiating table.”

Climate change in Bangladesh is a critical issue. Science shows that by 2050 17 percent of the country will be underwater. That means tens of millions of people will be displaced. One of the issues Caritas Bangladesh is asking for is that the UN officially recognizes “climate refugees”. Currently it doesn’t, which affects their legal status.

The fate of Bangladesh hangs in the balance in Durban as delegates try to agree on what to do with the Kyoto Protocal.

Dr Shelly has witnessed years of tense UN-led climate talks that have so far failed to come up with a new legally binding deal that will curb greenhouse gas emissions and fund developing countries to cope with the impact of extreme weather.

“Negotiations are very slow,” said Dr Shelly, doubting rich countries commitment to a new deal. But her own actions in Durban show that change is possible. Bangladesh has no choice, but then neither does anyone else if we want to save the world for future generations.

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